The Brandywine Pursuit is Now Available

To the South, over the line of the Withywindle, there was a distant glint like pale glass where the Brandywine River made a great loop in the lowlands and flowed away out of the knowledge of the hobbits. –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring 

A Long-extended Party is pleased to present The Brandywine Pursuit, the third adventure pack in the Fell Summer cycle of free community-created expansions for our beloved card game.

After narrowly escaping the wolf-cult’s lair with Wolfsbane Jack badly wounded and their enemies close behind, our heroes have only one hope of slipping away: a desperate flight down the Brandywine River on a makeshift raft. But the river offers little safety. Brigands race in pursuit while treacherous currents, environmental hazards, and endemic wildlife threaten to tear the raft apart. The unexpected addition of one very overwhelmed–and wet–hobbit may prove either a blessing or a burden. Add “rescue from drownding” to a quest already ripe with tension!

Flight on the River

The Brandywine Pursuit is a scenario of constant motion. As the players careen downstream, they will contend with the River deck, a new scenario element representing the shifting and dangerous currents of the Brandywine. Each time one stretch of river is passed, another waits ahead: rapids, falls, narrow channels, and hidden hazards that can change the shape of the quest in an instant.

At the heart of the scenario is each player’s Makeshift Raft, an objective that represents both transportation and survival. Resources on the raft mark how well it is holding together, and losing too many can spell disaster. Players will need to balance fighting off pursuers with preserving their fragile craft long enough to reach safety. There is only so much room to go around on a raft, especially one bursting at the lashings!

An Unexpected Passenger

The heroes’ escape is complicated by the arrival of Drogo Baggins, an unfortunate hobbit whose peaceful evening ramble ended in captivity at the hands of the cult. A Baggins by blood, Mr. Drogo hadn’t usually gone in for rafts in the past, though he has had experience with boats owing to his pursuit of and marriage to a Miss Primula Brandybuck. In his estimation, a pursuit of that nature was far more to his liking. Nevertheless, his grasp of the river and its habits may prove invaluable to the heroes in their desperate flight. 

Finding his chance to escape in the confusion on Girdley Island, Drogo joins the players in their frantic escape — though not always gracefully. Drogo is more than just a story element. A Drogo Baggins Objective-Ally introduces a tense tactical wrinkle: at key moments, players may rely on his expertise to navigate the river’s snags and pitfalls, but doing so puts him at grave risk. Keeping him safe while using his talents will be a unique mechanic in this scenario.

The River Behind, the Ford Ahead

The first two quest stages of The Brandywine Pursuit are a race to stay ahead of the cult’s brigands while surviving the river itself. Players will be forced onward from current to current in an effort to escape their pursuers, as enemies gather if they fail to make progress. If they endure the twists and perils of the river long enough, the chase reaches its climax at Sarn Ford, where flight gives way to open battle, a final stand against the hunters.

First a frantic, unstable pursuit full of attrition and improvisation, then a finale against the enemies at the only defensible location away from unknowing Shirefolk. It is a quest of momentum, endurance, and timing — one that asks players not merely to survive, but to keep moving.

The Wild Men Come

They had a marvellous skill as trackers of all living creatures, and they taught to their friends what they could of their craft; but their pupils did not equal them, for the Drúedain used their scent, like hounds save that they were also keen-eyed. They boasted that they could smell an Orc to windward further away than other Men could see them, and could follow its scent for weeks except through running water. –J.R.R. Tolkien, Unfinished Tales

The Brandywine Pursuit introduces a new and long-awaited theme to player-cards: the Woses of the Drúadan Forest. Led by the new heroes Ghân-buri-Ghân and Ose-bori-Ose, these cards offer a clever Lore-based playstyle built around scouting the wild, manipulating locations and encounter attachments, and thriving when threat remains low.

The remaining Wose cards, which can be viewed through the RingsDB link at the bottom of the article, bring a distinctive feel to the table: cunning rather than flashy, patient rather than forceful. Cards like Sharp-eyed Drû, Gorgûn-hunter, Poisoned Darts, and Púkel-man reward players for reading the board and turning the encounter deck’s dangers back upon themselves.

Masters of the Forest

The pack also includes the new Masters of the Forest player objective, which opens up exciting possibilities for decks built around Woodman, Ranger, and Wose characters. Those who choose to opt in will gain a powerful ability: ignoring various restrictions on enemies and locations, allowing their tricks and attachments to land where they otherwise could not. Time to bring down those Mûmakil!

The Brandywine Pursuit is available now as a free print-and-play expansion, available to download below. Prefer to play digitally? This expansion, and all future ALeP content, is available to play on DragnCards. Looking for a more professional, third-party print job? Check out our accompanying printing guides below for detailed, easy-to-follow instructions.

Printing Guides and Downloads

Player Card Spoilers on RingsDB

We are hard at work preparing French, German, Italian, Polish, and Spanish translations of The Brandywine Pursuit:

Language	Status
English	Available
French	In Progress
German	In Progress
Italian	In Progress
Polish	In Progress
Spanish	In Progress